Nestable and cross-stackable container



July 23, 1968 o. J. ASENBAUER 3,393,827

NESTABLE AND CROSS-STACKABLE CONTAINER Filed April 21, 1967 5Sheets-Sheet 1 FIG. 2 INVENTORZ DONALD J. ASENBAUER HIS ATTORNEY July23, 1968 D. J. ASENBAUER 3,393,327

NESTABLE AND CROSS-STACKABLE CONTAINER Filed April 21, 1967 5Sheets-Sheet 2 20 FIG. 6

4 INVENTOR:

DONALD J. ASENBAUER WM 6 HIS ATTORNEY y 23, 968 D. J. ASENBAUER3,393,827

NESTABLE AND CROSS STACKABLE CONTAINER Filed April 21, 1967 5Sheets-Sheet 5 E 20 250 25 250 M AA! AL I V] f V Fl Aamm g INVENTOR:

DONALD .J; ASENBAUER BWM' HIS ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,393,827NESTABLE AND CROSS-STACKABLE CONTAINER Donald J. Asenbauer, Whittier,Calif., assignor to Shell Oil Company, New York, N.Y., a corporation ofDelaware Filed Apr. 21, 1967, Ser. No. 632,596 4 Claims. (Cl. 220-97)ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An open-top, plastic, rectangular, nestableshipping container having slightly divergent side and end walls whichare provided Wit-h shelves and notches so that identical containers canbe cross-stacked to provide strength, stability and ventilation tostacked containers during shipment.

This invention relates to nesting and cross-stacking containers. Moreparticularly, the invention relates to a nestable, cross-stackablecontainer of substantially uniform thickness throughout which can beintegrally formed from a single piece of sheet material as well as beingfabricated by injection molding techniques and the like. While thepresent invention specifically contemplates the use of plastic materialsuch as polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, andacrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene copolymers, its application isnevertheless not to be thus limited.

Specifically, the present invention is directed to a rectangular,nestable and cross-stackable container having a length approximatelyequal to twice its width and having upwardly and outwardly sloping(upwardly diverging) side and end walls integrally connected at theirlower extremity to a bottom wall, said side, end and bottom walls havinga unique configuration to be described more fully hereinafter so thatidentical containers may not only be nested in a conventional manner butalso may be cross-stacked, i.e., interlocked in a novelstackingconfi'guration to form a very stable unit.

It has become necessary to transport fruits and vegetables distancesquite removed from whence they are grown and harvested. In order toreduce the amount of physical damage suffei ed by such produce,particularly the more fragile produce such as tomatoes, it is generallynecessary to transport the produce in containers having a capacity ofabout a bushel or two more or less.

The shipping boxes generally employed, however, suffer from one or moreserious shortcomings. Those made of insubstantial material such ascardboard cannot be stacked to a sufficient height and are difiicult toclean. Wood and metal construction materials do permit stacking but theynot only add to the weight of such containers but also increase theircost.

In the interest of space economy, substantially full containers arestacked one upon another during transportation and nested together whenempty for their return to the harvesting area. Such containers which arecapable of stacking and nesting are currently available. Thesecontainers, however, are stacked one upon another with each stack beinga separate entity within itself. When such containers are stacked to aheight of, say three or more containers, the stacks are quite unstableand during transportation rock and weave and frequently topple, or atleast subject the contents thereof to a constant rocking motion whichhas an adverse effect on the contents, particularly if the contents areso-called soft fruits and vegetables such as tomatoes. The presentshipping container is particularly suitable for construction fromlightweight, low-cost materials, i.e., heat formable plastics.

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The instant container has a unitary integral construction not possiblewith wood materials and very costly with metallic materials.

Most importantly, however, the present container not only can beconveniently nested with identical containers but also can becross-stacked, i.e., interlocked in a square configuration therebyproducing a very stable unitary stack of containers. This cross-stackingfeature, not obtainable with conventional containers, is particularlysuitable for containers used for shipping soft fruits and vegetablessince stacks of the present containers are significantly more stable,i.e., the respective containers and stacks do not weave and rock to themotion of the truck, boxcar or the like. In other words, produce shippedin the instant containers do not suffer from the undesirable road shockproduced by the constant rocking of conventional containers. It will beappreciated that there is likewise no lateral or forward shifting ofsuperimposed containers of the present invention since each container,in effect, is interlocked via cross-stacking with other containers. Itwill also be appreciated that when the present containers are in stackedarrangement, maximum air circulation is provided for the contentsthereof.

It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provide anestable and stackable container having a unitary construction. It isanother object of the present invention to provide a nestable andcross-stackable container which is especially suitable for shippingproduce. It is still another object to provide a nestable andcross-stackable container which is capable of facile manufacture andeconomical production by mass production methods of plastic materialsand which is particnlarly useful in palletized operations.

These and other objects will become apparent to one skilled in the artfrom the following disclosure and drawings.

The invention is described in greater detail and the best mode presentlycontemplated of carrying out the present invention is illustrated in theattached drawings wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of the container;

FIGURE 2 is a plan view of the container;

FIGURE 3 is a side view in partial cross-section of two containers innormal nesting position;

FIGURE 4 is a crosssectional view of the two nesting containers ofFIGURE 3 taken on line 44 thereof;

FIGURE 5 is a side view in partial cross-section of several containersin stacked arrangement; and

FIGURE 6 is a reduced side view in partial crosssection taken on line 66thereof.

Referring now to FIGURES 1-6 of the drawings, the nestable andcross-stackable container A of FIGURES l and 2, containers A and B ofFIGURES 3 and 4, and containers A, B, C and D of FIGURES 5 and 6 are allidentical. Since all containers are identical, like parts are identifiedthroughout by like reference numerals, therefore, in the followingdescription reference will be made to one of the containers A, B, C,etc., only whenever a cooperative relationship of two or more containersare involved in the description.

Referring more particularly to FIGURES 1 and 2 of the drawing, anintegrally formed open top rectangular container A having an over-alllength approximately twice the over-all width measured at the widestportions thereof including the bead, and formed from a single sheet ofplastic, metal or the like comprises a bottom or bottom wall 20integrally connected to upwardly diverging side walls 21 and 22, andupwardly diverging end walls 23 and 24.

Midway between ends walls 23 and 24 and transversely to the longitudinalaxis of the container, bottom wall 20 is upwardly indented or deformedto form an inverted U-shaped trough 25 having substantially verticalside walls 25a and 25b. Trough 25 has a transverse width approximatelytwice the width of bead 40.

It is of interest at this time to point out that the instant containeris bilaterally symmetrical about both the longitudinal and transverseaxes.

Side wall 21 at its upper extremity is outwardly and upwardly indentedor deformed on either side of the transverse axis of the container toform notches, shoulders or supporting inner shelves 26 and 27 in bead40, each having a longitudinal width approximately equal to the outsidewidth of bottom wall 20-. Side wall 22 is likewise indented at its upperextremity to form corresponding notches, shoulders or shelves 28 and 29.Side Walls 21 and 22 and end walls 23 and 24 at their upper extremityproject outwardly and downwardly a short distance to form bead 40 forstrength and ease of handling.

Two or more containers may be nested together to form a very compactstack as illustrated in FIGURES 3 and 4. In such a nestingconfiguration, container B is inserted into container A. This can beaccomplished simply by aligning the longitudinal axis of container Bwith the longitudinal axis of container A with container B abovecontainer A and then container B is lowered until the containers engagewith each other. Any reasonable number of containers can be nested inthis manner. As shown in FIGURES 3 and 4, when containers A and B arethus nested, the side and end walls of container A will be in closecontact with the corresponding side and end walls of container B. Whileside wall 22 of container A is shown in contact with side wall 22 ofcontainer B in FIGURES 3 and 4, because the instant containers arebilaterally symmetrical about both the transverse and the longitudinalaxis, either container could be turned end-for-end, i.e., rotated 180,and the same nesting relationship would be obtained. This feature offersa distinct advantage over containers which when rotated 180 will nest,but when rotated another 180 will stack, since nesting can obviously befacilitated with the instant container.

Stacking of the instant containers can be easily and effectivelyaccomplished as shown in FIGURES and 6. It is readily apparent that avery stable, substantially square interlocking stack is obtained whichcan be conveniently palletized for ease of transportation.

Referring more particularly to FIGURES 5 and 6, containers C and Dcross-stack and interlock with and upon containers A and B. In a likemanner containers E and F (not shown) cross-stack and interlock with andupon containers C and D. Containers A and B are placed in side-by-sidearrangement with their side wall beads 40 in contact with theirlongitudinal axes parallel to each other. Then containers C and D arestacked upon containers A and B with their respective axes parallel toeach other with their axes at right angles to the axes of containers Aand B. In such a stacked arrangement it will be seen that the portion ofbottom wall next adjacent end wall 23 of container C sets upon andengages notch or shelf 28 of container A and that portion of bottom wall20 next adjacent end wall 24 of container C sets upon and engages notchor shelf 26 of container B. In a like manner, that portion of bottomwall 20 next adjacent end wall 24 of container D sets upon and engagesnotch or shelf 29 of container A and that portion of bottom wall 20 nextadjacent end wall 23 of container D sets upon and engages notch or shelf21 of container B.

Referring more particularly to FIGURE 6, it will be seen that containerD is not only supported by shelves 27 and 29 of containers A and B, butalso interlocks therewith wherein slot or trough 25 of container Dengages bead 40 of side wall 21 of container A and bead 40 of side wall22 of container B. In a like manner container E interlocks withcontainers C and D, as shown in FIGURE 5 wherein slot 25 of container Efits over and engages bead 40 of side wall 28 of container C and bead 40of side wall 22 of container D.

The side walls 21 and 22 and end walls 23 and 24 may preferably bestepped slightly outwardly and upwardly to form one or more continuousreinforcing rings 30 parallel to bottom wall 20 around the periphery ofthe container.

I claim as my invention:

1. An integrally formed open-top rectangular crossstacking and nestingcontainer having a length approximately equal to twice the width thereofat the widest portions of said container, comprising a bottom wall,upwardly and outwardly diverging side and end walls connecting with saidbottom wall, said side and end walls terminating at their upperextremity in a continuous circumferential bead, midway between the endwalls and transversely to the longitudinal axis of the container, saidbottom wall is upwardly deformed to form an inverted U-shaped troughhaving a width approximately equal to twice the width of saidcircumferential bead, said side walls at their upper extremity beingoutwardly deformed on either side of the transverse axis of thecontainer to form a pair of supporting inner shelves in each of saidside walls having a longitudinal width approximately equal to theoutside width of the bottom wall and adapted to support a superimposedstacked container.

2. A container as in claim 1 wherein the side and end walls are steppedslightly outwardly and upward to form at least one continuouscircumferential reinforcing ring.

3. A container as defined in claim 1 which is integrally formed from asingle sheet of plastic material.

4. A container as defined in claim 1 which is integrally formed ofplastic material and having a substantially uniform thicknessthroughout.

FOREIGN PATENTS 4/1959 France. 8/1964 Germany.

THERON E. CONDON, Primary Examiner.

G. E. LOWRANCE, Assistant Examiner.

